14. Kimchi

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When I think of Korea, I often think of kimchi. # In other words, it can be seen as a food representing Korea in name and reality.

Kimchi is the cheapest side dish you can find in Korea, and if you buy Chinese kimchi, you can buy a box of 10kg for about 10,000 won. Of course, kimchi with domestic ingredients is quite expensive than Chinese kimchi, but it is still cheaper than meat, fish, and fresh vegetables.

With the exception of geotjeori, it is generally sour and spicy, which is characterized by being good for other foods. Rice, a staple food in particular, has a little sweetness but is usually bland and meat dishes are greasy, making it easy to bite, especially when Korean food is sweet and salty recently, and kimchi, which has a sour taste, balances the taste. This sour taste is characterized by salivating the saliva and keeping the food in, and kimchi has a spicy taste, so it has to go well with any meal. Therefore, it can be used in various ways, and there are countless kimchi dishes and applications in Korea. Another unique feature is that it exists somewhere between main dishes such as pasta, fish and chips, and steak, and auxiliary dishes such as pickled radish and pickles. Therefore, since it is a food that people eat very frequently and is an essential part of a meal with rice and soup, in Korean food, the term "a few dishes and a half" is used depending on the number of side dishes, but kimchi is not counted as a sum at all. 

In the 21st century, kimchi consumption itself is constantly decreasing.  According to the statistics published in the article, it decreased from 120g in 2005 to 96g in 2015, and  according to the statistics of the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, it decreased to 6,70g in 2019. This is just because in the past, the habit of eating and removing as much kimchi as possible has become firmly established because it is not as abundant as it is now, while in modern society, there are numerous alternatives other than Korean food to various meats and fish. It is true that many Korean tastes have changed, but that does not mean that they have completely changed. To be precise, there is a feeling that the hardcore supporters have faded as in the past because their taste has become very diversified. Some elderly people don't eat because of the unique scent and taste of kimchi, and some young people and children eat it because of the scent and taste, so it can be said that a large number of people enjoy it across a wide range of classes. Some families hate kimchi itself, and there are still many families who eat fresh kimchi with oysters and boiled pork and served it with makgeolli. In addition, due to the development of various kimchi recipes, it is consumed more in various dishes such as stir-fried kimchi, kimchi fried rice, kimchi stew, and budae-jjigae than in eating raw kimchi, and as stated in the historical paragraph, various kimchi, including traditional kimchi, are being developed for the taste of various people. In the end, kimchi culture only changes naturally with the passage of time.

It is often said that you miss kimchi when you travel abroad, but it can vary depending on how you eat it. Some people said they missed kimchi madly while going to places with a lot of greasy food, such as China or the United States, but those who went on a no-show trip filled with bread did not think they missed kimchi very much. It is hard to say anything because those who like foreign food and those who don't like it are kebake. However, whether local food suits your taste or not, it is common in the world that if you can't eat your home food for too long in a foreign country, you will miss your home country's food. Many Koreans visit Korean restaurants first and eat Korean food and kimchi when they return to Korea after traveling abroad for a long time. Many say that kimchi, red pepper paste, and ramen are essential when studying abroad.

There is also a story that the South Korean military, which was given combat food by the U.S. military during the Vietnam War, missed kimchi so much that they made kimchi with cabbage or onions. An episode related to this also appears in cartoonist diners. And earlier than that, when the Koryoin were forcibly relocated to Central Asia, they were unable to obtain radish, so they made a dish called Korean carrot while cooking carrots instead, and it was also incorporated into dishes in neighboring countries such as Russian cuisine.

For this reason, there may be a prejudice that all Koreans enjoy eating kimchi, but there are always exceptions in the world, and there are some Koreans who do not like it or can't eat it well. In addition, I hate eating kimchi alone, but I can eat kimchi as an ingredient, such as budae jjigae, so I can't hurry to generalize that I don't eat kimchi at all. To sum up, Koreans don't necessarily like it, but most enjoy eating it.